Bleaching apparatus.



' R: WEISS. BLBAGHING APPARATUS. APPLICATION mum saw. 29, who.

INVENTOR:

' Patented Aug. 27; 1912;

, act specification.

ROBERT WEISS, 0F KINGERSHEIM, GERMANY.

BLEAGHING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Fatent. Patented Aug. 27, 1%12.

original application filed .Tuly 1'7, 1908, Serial No. 444,011. Divided. and this application filed September 29, 1909. Serial No. 520,116.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ROBERT We ss, chemist, a citizen of the Swiss Republic, 'andresident of Kingersheim, Alsace-Lorraine Ger many, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bleaching Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and ex- My invention,'which is a division of U. S. Letters Patent 986,332, granted to me March 7, 1911, relates to an apparatus for treating textile materials, and more especially, for boiling, washing and bleaching them with a bath flowing in a reversible circuit, the said apparatus being designed to accelerate the process when compared with similar processes at present in use, as regards the time occupied, and to simplify and eheapen it as regards completeness, and ex penditure upon fuel and chemicals.

According to my invention the apparatus comprises two treating vessels each designed to be charged with textile material to be treated by a liquid bath of an amount but little more than that corresponding to the capacity of one vessel, a pump for maintaining said liquid bath in a circulating motion, connections between .said pump and the lower part of said vessels, means for reversing the direction of flow of the liquid bath through the vessels, and an upper interme diate vessel placed between the said treating vessels and connected with the upper part thereof, the whole being arranged in such a manner as to allow of impregnating the material in one of the vessels in full bath under pressure substantially in a direction from below to above and simultaneously treating the material in the other vessel bya kind of dripping or filtering action, and then interchanging these two lrinds of treatment by operating said reversing means. Furthermore the two treating vessels are so providedwith overflow pipes, and these again with retaining valves, that for the pressure period in one vessel the overflow pipe belonging to it has itsrctaining valve closed, while simultaneously for the suction period in the other treating vessel the corresponding retaining valve opened in order to allow the excess of li uid in this vessel resulting from an insui cient percolation of the liquid through the material to how away through the corresponding overflow pipe without attesting the circulation.

Figure 1 of the diagrammatic drawing illustrates the preferred form of this apparatus, it being supposed that it is being employed with a treating liquid heated above 100 (3., both the vessels being closed. Fig. 2 shows a modified apparatus wherein both the vessels are open. r

The apparatus represented in Fig. 1 consists of two closed treating vessels at, b laced on the same level, which may sulta 1y be provided with strainers on their floors, and are connected by the pipes 0, (Z with two of the nozzles of a four-way cock 0, for reversing the direction of circulation of the heat ing liquid, the two other nozzles of this cock being connected by the pipes f, g with a rotary pump it. The pipe 9 is connected with the feed pipe 2' for liquid and the "suction nozzle 7' of the pump by a three-way cock is. Above, the vessels a, Z) are connected by two pipes m, a with an intermediate vessel 0, which is provided with a cock 2 for the exit of air and a steam heating coil 9 with a feed cock r. The pipes m, n are provided with cut off cocks 3, :12. In the treating vessel 6 there is arranged an overflow pipe 15 which is provided with a valve u opening downward. For the vessel a, this arrangement is, for the sake of example, somewhat modified. In this case the overflow pipe '0 is connected to the vessel a on the exterior, and it is also connected with the pipe 0 and similarly con tains a retaining valve in. The object of.

this arrangement will be seen from the following description.

The apparatus is made use of in-the following manner: After the vessels a, Z1 have been charged with the material to be treated the air must first be expelled from the appara tus. The pump is fed through the pipe 2 with the liquid to be used, which in the position of the fourwvay cock 6 shown in. the

drawing is forced into the vessel a by the pump through the pipes c, flows through the material contained in the vessel a and fills the latter, at the same time driving out the air, which escapes through the opened air-exit cock p. Finallylhe liquid passes over into the vessel 0, which it fills to a certain degree, the cock 0; being closed, so that the vessel 0 contains nearly as much liquid as would be necessary for the treatment of the material in thevessel. Z). At this moment the-admission of liquid through the pipe e is interrupted by turning the threeway cock k in'zthe direction of the arrow. By this means therehas been admitted into the apparatus, in spite of the presence of two treating vessels scarcely more liquid than corresponds to the amount of material to be .treated in a single vessel. By turning the cock lathe cock :2:- being opened, the pipes g, d are" brought, into COIHICCUOD with the suction nozzle j of the pump, and a move:-

ment ofcirculation of the liquid takes place in such a way that the liquid, if the material in the vessel 'bis 'sufliciently penetrable, is

' drawn through the latter. If, on the con- 3 mg 0 theilatter 1s not a .which passes through the vessel b accumulates above t e material and finally flows through the overflow pipe t,

- trar ,the material offers a certain resistance to t e percolation of the liquid, the liquid ipe a into the the valve ulof which 'is open, directly toward the pi e d and to the pump so that the feedtieeted by the impenetrability of the material in the vessel b.

After, the movement of circulation of the I the vessel 6 rises, penetrates the material in the latter, the valve a being closed automatically, and at the same time the liquid forcesany air which may still remain in the vessel through the cock 1). The liquid finally reaches the pipes n, m, when the cock .9 isagain opened and a similar movement of circulation of the liquid set up as before, but with the difference that it now takes place in the contrary direction. The arts of the apparatus are now empty 0 air'. The heating of the liquid is continued, and

it is then only necessary to reverse 'froin time to time the fou-r-way cock 6, first in one direction and then in the other, in order to carry out the proper working of the apparatus. As a matter of fact in one working position of thefour-way cock 6, for example that shown in the drawing, the mate rial in the vessel a is steeped or impregnated in full bath by pressure action by the liquid supplied by the pump, while at the same time the liquidfrom the lower part of the vessel 6 is sucked away to drain the material therein and the I amount of liquid which passes over into the vessel 7) percolates by a ind-of dripping or filtering action through the material in this vessel, if it be sufllciently penetrable, to carry away the impurities dissolved gi'nthe full bath, but if the charge be insullicient'ly penetrable the liquid is able I to run cit-immediately through the overflow pipe t whence it collects in the lower part of the vessel 6 and serves for feeding the pump. If the four-way cock 6 be moved through 90? the vessels d and Z) exchange theirfunctions, in so far as-that then the vessel 1) serves for the treatment in the full bath, of

its contents drained during the preceding phase, and the vessel a for the treatment of its contents in the dripping or filtering process.

to say, that scarcely more liquid is required than would be necessary fortreating the material in one of the vessels. From this there resultsconsiderable economy in liquid,

and, in correspondence therewith, in fuel also in order to bring the former, to the tem-' perature desired. It is also to be remarked, however, with reference to the chemicals that since, as the result of the presence of a smaller quantit of liquid they are less di luted, and can c more completely used up, while a more rapid action is obtained as the result of greater concentration, there nat urally results economy in chemicals and time. 7

The apparatus shown in Fig. 2 difiers from that above described in so far 'as the two treatment vessels a, b are open and are directly connected below their upper edge to one anotherby the pipes m n and the intermediate vessel 0 which obviously may also be omitted.

What I claim is:"

1. Apparatus for boiling and bleaching textile materials, comprising two treating vessels each adapted to be charged with textile material to be treated by a liquid, 9. pump for-maintaining said liquid in a cir- 'culating motion, pipe connectronsbetween saidpump and the lowerpart of said vessel, means for reversing the direction of flow of the liquid through the vessels, an upper intermediate heating vessel placed between the said treating vessels, havin pipes leading to the upper part of each 0 said vessels connecting theupper parts of said vessels through said intermediate vessel, and means connected in the same circuit with said pump and reversing means for the initial supply of liquid to the vessels from below in view of expelling air from the textile material therein, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. Apparatus for boiling textile .materials, comprising two closed treating vessels each adapted to be charged with textile material to be treated by a liquid, a pump for maintaining said liquid in a circulating motion, pipe connections between said pump'and the lower part of said vessels, means for reversing the direction of flow ofthe liquid through the vessels, an upper intermediate vessel placed between y and bleaching,

the said treating vessels, a heating device for heating the liquid in said intermediate vessel, pipes connecting said intermediate vessel with the upper part of the treating vessels and closing means in said pipes for temporarily cutting off the connection be tween said intermediate vessel and the treating vessels when the apparatus is to be supplied with liquid and the air to be expelled therefrom, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. Apparatus for boiling and bleaching textile materials, comprising two closed treating vessels each adapted to be charged with textile material to be treated by a liquid, a pump for maintaining said liquid in a circulating motion, pipe connections be tween said pump and the lower part of said vessels, means for reversing the direction of fiow of the liquid through the vessels, an upper intermediate vessel placed between the said treating vessels, a heating device for heating the liquid in said intermediate vessel, pipes connecting said intermediate vessel with the uppenpart of the treating vessels, closing means in said pipes for'temporarily cutting off the connection between said intermediate vessel and the treating vessels when the apparatus is to be supplied with liquid and the air to be expelled therefrom, and means connected in the same circuit with said pump and reversing means for the initial supply of liquid to the vessels from below in view of expelling airfrom the latter and the textile material therein, substantially as and for the purpose described.

part thereof and designed to receive the excess of liquid from the full bath operation of one of the treating vessels for the simultaneous dripping or filtering operation in the other vessel, the said two treating vessels being provided with overflow pipes and these again with retaining valves so that for the period of raised pressure in the one vessel the corresponding overflow pipe has its retaining valve closed, while at the same time for the period of reduced pressure in the other vessel the retaining valve belonging to it is opened, in order that the excess of liquid which accumulates in the latter vessel through the inadequate penetration of the material may flow off through the corresponding overfiow pipe, substantially as hereinbefore described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two sub- 

